Against the background of a long historical
experience with previously 'new' media such as photography, film, television or video, the Department of Media Theory casts
a fresh look at current media developments and locates them historically. By focusing on the socio-technological conditions
of media, the department exists as an arena of research, reflection and pursuit for students, academics, and artists.
The
Professorship of Film and Media Theory (Univ.-Prof. Dr. Gabriele Jutz) focuses on the dynamic and expanding field of “moving
image-based art,” from experimental film, experimental animation and hybrid forms (moving images combined with painting, photography,
performance, sculpture, etc.) to “artists’ moving images” in a gallery or museum. This also includes sound studies (image/sound
relations) in audiovisual practices anchored in artistic contexts.
Complementary, the focus of
the Professorship of Media Theory and History (Univ.-Prof. Dr. Clemens Apprich) lies in the relationship between analog and
digital cultures, as well as the critical reflection of algorithmic and data-based systems. This includes research on the
epistemological, social, and technical analysis of media technologies, asking how they are organising digital cultures, what
role they play in the transformation of democratic societies, and to what extent they can be explained by the latest push
in computation, in particular with regards to artificial intelligence and machine learning.
The
Department of Media Theory seeks to actively contribute to creating a non-discriminatory working environment and learning
atmosphere that enables critical and heterogeneous research and teaching of the highest quality.
